Emergency-brake.



W. H. ROUSE & J. T. FREDERICKSEN.

EMERGENCY BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23,1915.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

511mm foz ms COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH 120., WASHINGTON, D. c.

W. H. ROUSE & J. T. FREDERICKSEN.

EMERGENCY BRAKE.

1,175,562 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23, i915. Patented Liar.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

his A ENE FFfC.

WILLIAM H. BOUSE AND JOHN T. rnnnEnIoKsEN, or nnnvnn,,.cor.onano;sarn noose ASSIGNOR To SAID FREDERICKSEN.

EMERGENCY-BRAKE.

Application filed June 23, 1915.

To all whom z'tmag concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. Rouse and JOHN T. Fnnonnlcigsnn, citizens of the United States, residing in the city and county of Denver and ,State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Emergency-Brakes; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the acc0m-.

panying drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our inventionrelates to improvements in emergency brakesfor vehicles our special object being to provide a brake of this character which shall be well adapted for use upon motor vehicles.

The necessity for a reliable emergency brake for use on automobiles is realized by all who have had experience with machines of this character. It is well known that serious accidents frequently happen on steep grades due to the fact that the regular .brakes of the machine will not hold the wheels against rotation in the reverse direction, and by reason of this fact automobiles frequently become unmanageable. Our improvement is intended to completely overcome this difficulty, and to this end our construction consists of a rock shaft mounted on the springs of the vehicle and carrying dogs-or 'pawls adapted to engage ratchet disks mounted on the rear wheels of the machine. The pawls arenormally held out of engagement with the ratchets, by reason of a suitable connection with a crank arm on the rock shaft, said connection leading .to a holderorkeeper which is easily accessible. to the chauffeur or the person in charge of the machine. This connecting deviceis preferably in the form of a rope :or cable and its forward extremity is provided, with a stop which when the cable is in engagement withthekeeper, holds the rock shaft in such position that its pawls are disengaged from the said ratchets, the rock shaft ever being connected with a spring which has a tendency tothrow the pawls into engagement with the ratchets, and willserve to (perform this function, as soon as thestop carried by the cable is -,disengaged from its Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedMar. 1a, 1916. Serial No. 35,762.

keeper, in which event the recoil of vthe spring; connected with the rock shaft actuates the latter and throws the pawls into engagement with the teeth of the ratchets which arecarried by the wheels as aforesaid. The rock shaft isyieldi-ngly mounted, whereby provision ismade to prevent the too sudden checking of the rotation of the rear wheels when the brake is applied.

Having briefly outlined our improved construct-ion we will proceed to describe the same in detail reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which -is illustrated an embodiment thereof. In thisdraw.ing,FigureV1 is a top plan view .of the rear part of achassis-of an automobile,- also showing the rear wheels, the springs and our improved emergency brake. Fig. 2 is a section taken through the front partof the body of the machine, showing the forward extremity of the rope or cable which controls the brake. .Fig. 3 is a detail view looking in the direction .of arrow 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 isa section taken on the line M, Fig. 1 viewed in the direction of the arrow, the parts being shown on a larger scale. Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arr0w,-the parts being shown on a larger scale. Figgti is a sectional detail view, the section being taken on the [line 6-6, Fig. 4. i

The same reference characters indicate the .same. parts inall the views.

Letthe numeral 5 designate the rearpart of the chassis or framework of an automobile, which is supported by rear springs :6. Therear wheels 7 which are fast upon the aXleJS in the usual manner arev each provided with a ratchetringrt) which is secured by means of fastening devices 10 to a circular plate 12 which is secured. to the wheel by. a number of U-clips 13 whose closed portions lat pass around spokes 15 of the wheel, the threaded arms of-each clip protruding through openings formed in theplaterlQ, nuts 16 being applied thereto for securing the clips in place. This circular plate with which each wheel is equipped, forms a support for the ratchet ring 9. As shown in the drawing this ring is secured .to the plate by meansof rivets I if desired. As illustrated in the drawing the ratchet rings 9 arelocated beyond or outside of the band brake drums 17.

' A rock shaft '18 is journaled in spring members 19 which are secured to the upper central portions of the main springs 6 of the vehicle. The spring members 19 are relatively short and their forward'portions are engaged by the U-clips 21 which connect the springs 6 with the plates 22 of the housing 25 in which the axle 8 is journaled. In order to apply the springs 19 to the main springs of the machine, to loosen the nuts 24: on the U-clips 21, until the closed extremitiesof the clips maybe raised high enough to allow the spring members 19 to pass thereunder, after which the clips are secured in'place and the spring members 19 are also securely held against displacement. In order to prevent the possibility of longitudinal movement of the spring members 19in a rearward direction, the-forward extremities of these springs are bent upwardly to form stops 25. The rear ends of the springs 19 or the portions extending rearwardly from the rearmostclips 21, are curved upwardly as'shown at 26 above the upper surfaces of the main springs, thus leaving a considerable space 27 between the rearextremities of-these springs and the upper surfaces of the main springs 6. 7 These upturned ends'of the spring members 19, are formed into eyes 28, in which the rock shaft 18 is journaled. The extremities of the rock shaft extend laterally'beyond the journals 28, and their outer extremities are equipped with pawls or dogs 29, which are made fast to the rock shaft.

These pawls 29-areadapted to engage the teeth 30 of the ratchet rings 9, when the rock shaft is'properly adjusted.

" Suitably mounted on the rock shaft are upper and lower crank arms 31 and 32. To

the upper extremity of the crank arm 31 is connected as shown at 5, one extremity of a spiral spring 33 whose opposite extremity is secured as shown at- 34: to the housing 23. This spring is normally under tensionto actuate the rock shaft to cause the dogs or pawls 29 toengage the teeth 30 of the ratchet rings 9. In other words the tension of this spring if unresisted would move the rock shaft 18 in its hearings to cause the pawls 29 to assume the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4:.

' Any suitable provision may be made for holdingthe rock shaft in position to prevent the pawls from engaging the teeth 30 of the ratchet rings 9. As shown'in the drawing, the lower extremity of the crank arm 32 is connected as shownat 35, with the rear exit is only necessary 7 said pulley being mounted in a bracket 38 cle underneath the seat as shown at 43. The

bracket is provided with two spaced lugs 11 between which acable passes. The upper extremity of the cable'as shown in the drawing is equipped witha ring 15 which engages recesses 46 formed in the upper edges of the lugs, said recesses forming a sort of seat for the ring and insuring the latter against accidental displacement. The length of the ca-' his is so regulated that when the ring 45 is seated in the recesses of the bracket lugs, the rock shaft 18 is held in such position that the pawls 29 are out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet rings, 1 and by full lines in Fig.4. Now in the event that it is desired to utilize our emergency brake, it is only necessary for the chauffeur or the personin charge of the machine to reach downwardly and disengage the ring 45 from its seat and allow the ring to move downwardly in response to the pull as shown in Fig.

on the cable due tothe recoil of the spring 83, which recoil will guide the rock shaft 18 and cause the pawls 29 to engage the teeth Y the rear wheels of the machine against ro-' tation. At the same time the too sudden checking of the movementof the wheels is prevented by reason of the fact. that the I rock shaft may move downwardly in response to the stress placedupon it by reason of the engagement of the pawls with the ratchet teeth of the wheels, until the shaft caused to engagethe upper surface of the nain springs 6. It is evident that the yielding capacity of, the bearing extremities of the, springs 19, may be as great as desired orm'ay have any required range. It is evident that by reason of this yielding move- 11G supporting extremities of the springs 19 are I ment of the rock shaft, there will be practically no tendency to breakage or injury to anypart of the structure, due to the sudden throwing of the paw-ls into engagement with I the wheel ratchets.

Attention is called to the" fact that the rock shaft or other equivalent element of our improved construction, may be connected with other forms or arrangements of springs. For instance our improvement-is equally adapted for use with vehicles having springs whose construction and arrangement are different from those shown in the drawing. For instance the rock shaft may be connected with under-slung springs or those located below the axle, as well as with the form illustrated in the drawing. As illustrated in the drawing (see Fig. 5) the two crank arms 31 and 32 are formed integral with .aneye 47 which is adjustably secured to the rock shaft by means of a set bolt By virtue of this specific construction, the normal position of these crank arms may be regulated as desired.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim is,-

1. The combination with a vehicle, of a rock shaft yieldingly mounted thereon and equipped with pawls, and means mounted on the adjacent wheels of the vehicle and cooperating with the pawls to prevent the rotary movement necessary to the rearward travel of the vehicle. 4

2. The combination with a spring supported body, of a rock shaft, auxiliary spring members mounted on the main springs, and having upturned extremities in which the rock shaft is journaled, pawls mounted on the said shaft, and means carried by the wheels of the vehicle and cooperating with the pawls to lock the wheels against reverse travel.

8. The combination with a vehiclehaving a spring supported body, of auxiliary spring members mounted on the main springs, the rear extremities of said spring members, extending upwardly above the upper surface of the main springs, a rock shaft journaled in said rear extremities of said springs, pawls carried by the rock shaft, means car ried by the wheelsand adapted to coopera vehicle having -members mounted on the ate with the pawls for preventing the reverse movement of the wheels, the rock shaft being spring actuated to cause the pawls to engage the cooperating means carried by the wheels.

4. The combination with a vehicle having a spring supported body, of auxiliary spring main springs, the rear extremities of said spring members, extending upwardly above the upper surface of the main springs, a rock shaft journaled in said rear extremities of said springs, pawls carried by the rock shaft, means carried by the wheels and adapted to cooperate with the pawls for preventing the reverse movement of the wheels, the rock shaft being spring actuated to cause the pawls to engage the cooperating means carried by the wheels and means connected with the rock shaft and acting in opposition to its spring for holding the pawls out of engagement with the cooperating means carried by the wheels.

5. The combination with a vehicle of a rock shaft yieldingly mounted thereon, means mounted upon adjacent wheels of the vehicle, and means carried by the rock shaft adapted to engage the first named means to prevent the rotary movement necessary to the rearward travel of the vehicle.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. HOUSE. JOHN T. F REDERICKSEN.

Witnesses:

A. J. SWAN, BERT MITCHELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

